Obama offers hints of job creation plan during Labor Day speech in Detroit

Paul Sancya | APPresident Barack Obama speaks after the annual Labor Day parade in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Obama's speech at the annual event was serving as a dress rehearsal for the jobs address he's delivering to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night.

During a Labor Day rally in Detroit, President Obama only gave small details of a multi-point plan to stir job growth in America, saying that more would be revealed during a national address on Thursday.

"I'm going to propose ways to get back to work that both parties can agree to," he said in front of a crowd of thousand Detroiters at the Renaissance Center, home of General Motors' world headquarters. "Given the hardship that most people are facing, people gotta get together. But we're not gonna wait for them."

Obama spent most of his half-hour speech repeating the successes of the automotive industry, backed by government loans which were repaid, a need for education reform and a continued need for Social Security and Medicare -- "the cornerstones of middle class security." In regards to job creation, Obama addressed two points:

Allocating federal resources to repair roads and bridges. "We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding," Obama said, adding that there are one million unemployed construction workers in the country. "There is work to be done and workers ready to do it."

Reinforcing the payroll tax cut. "I think putting money back in the pockets of working families is the best way to get demand rising. That means that the economy is growing.

But, Obama said, that's "just a lil' bit. I don't want to give everything away right here. I want you to tune in on Thursday."

The noticeably at-ease Obama was greeted by the mostly union crowd with enthusiastic chants of "four more years" that briefly interrupted his half-hour-long speech. He was introduced by Ghana Goodwin-Dye, president of UAW Local 909. "We must stand with the president in the fight for good jobs in all of our communities," Goodwin-Dye said.

The president was joined by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who said Obama chose Detroit because for his Labor Day address because it is "a beautiful city that gave birth to the middle class.

"Today on Labor Day, our struggle continues. Some politicians say they can't afford union right now, that labor unions are the problem in this country. I think they just got it plain wrong. Unions helped build the American middle class," she said.

"The time for Washington games is over. The time for action is now. No more manufactured crises, no more games," Obama said. "Now is not the time for the people you sent to Washington to worry about their jobs, now is the time for them to worry about your jobs."

Throughout Obama's speech, some chants of "recall Snyder" peppered through the crowd, while some questioned the absence of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. Bing and Ficano greeted Obama after Air Force One landed at Metro Airport; Obama noted his continued work with them and re-iterated his choice of Detroit in the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative.

Obama's prevailing theme was laborers' rights, and assured that he would work for collective bargaining as long as he remained in office.

"Having a voice on the job, that is the right of every man and woman in America. Not just the CEO in the office, but also the janitor who cleans that office when the CEO goes home," he said.